Italys’ First Carbon Capture Project

In my previous post, the focus was on EUs’ effort towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions by means of emission trading scheme (ETS). Adding to it, European Union is also helping countries in raising funds to counter climate change and global warming through European Recovery Program for Energy. As a part of its initiative, EU has awarded Enel, Italy’s largest power generation company 100 million Euros for carbon capture and storage (CCS) pilot projects at its coal fired power plant in the city of Brindisi.

As a part of this deal, Enel has started operating its first plant for capturing carbon emissions and storing them underground. This plant aims at capturing 8000 metric tons of CO2 a year at its Brindisi power plant. If found successful, this project would be scaled up to capture 1 million metric tons of CO2 at Enels’ Porto Tolle coal plant in north eastern Italy. This pilot project is the first of its kind in Italy.

The company is planning to convert the Porto Tolle power plant that currently runs on fuel oil to a coal fired plant having a capacity of 2000 MW with an investment of 2.5 billion Euros. Enel is also aiming at an expenditure of 1 billion Euros to set up a carbon capture facility at this plant over a period of 10 years.